Chapter 8: Chapter 8
Startled out of their senses, the bandits were shocked by Gam Sangcheong’s roar and galloped after Jang Geon.
“Stop right there, you bastard!”
“As if I’d stop.”
Jang Geon snorted and touched the wound on his forehead. It was merely a slight cut on the outer skin, but blood flowed into his eyes and pricked them.
“Stop! Stop right there, you son of a bitch!”
“I said stop!”
Riding excitedly like that for a moment and glancing back, the bandits were charging in a long line according to their respective horses and riding skills.
Jojo’s roughened breathing reached Jang Geon’s ears. The full-speed gallop continuing from the hill was starting to put a strain on Jojo.
“We got him! That bastard’s horse is exhausted!”
“Kill him! Catch him and drag him down!”
The fella galloping at the very front closed in right behind Jang Geon’s back and raised his sword high.
Just then, Jang Geon suddenly pushed off the saddle with both hands and spun around to sit backward. The bandit snapped his eyes wide open.
“Uh, fuck?”
Simultaneously, a streak of light flashed from Jang Geon’s waist, and the bandit’s raised right arm flew into the air along with his head.
“Ayong! That bastard killed Ayong!”
The other bandits following behind flinched in shock. But among them were also fellas who kept their composure.
“Just grab his feet! Then Big Brother will handle him!”
“Grab him!”
Two bandits holding a medium-length spear and a long pole-axe closed in on Jang Geon’s left and right.
However, Jang Geon raised his sword and deflected the spear sideways. The blade and spear shaft clashed heavily.
The bandit smiled. He was among the top five strongest in terms of raw power within the bandit gang.
“Huh?”
The spear shaft didn’t budge at all. No, rather, something surged into his palm through the spear shaft.
Clutching his torn, blood-dripping palm and agonizingly painful arm, the bandit groaned in agony.
By the time he looked back at Jang Geon, his blade was already slicing through the bandit’s neck.
“What is that bastard? What kind of magic trick is he pulling?”
The injured-handed bandit slowly backed away, muttering in fear.
“You cowardly bastard!”
Just then, Gam Sangcheong following from behind crushed that bandit’s head with his bare hands. Brain matter and blood spattered everywhere.
“Give chase! Chase and attack that guy’s horse at least! Fall him to the ground somehow! Otherwise I’ll break all your necks!”
Thoroughly terrified by that brutal sight, the bandits frantically urged their horses. Driven by fear, they galloped with even greater speed than before.
“What kind of crazy lunatic is that? He’s completely out of his mind.”
In Jang Geon’s eyes, Gam Sangcheong’s eyes glistening with dark red light could be seen. Jang Geon narrowed his eyes.
“So the three Unit Leaders cultivated demonic arts together. Crazy bastards.”
Starting from becoming short-tempered, if it worsened, one would end up drinking human blood and brain fluid and eating flesh. That was the evil nature of demonic arts.
Ever since Overlord Xiang Yu, countless people had succumbed to the temptation of demonic arts to gain faster power and mighty internal energy.
However, in the end, just as Xiang Yu himself could not overcome the madness of demonic arts, not a single person had ever controlled that madness.
Furthermore, if caught having cultivated demonic arts, one wouldn’t just be pursued by the Martial Alliance or ancient families, but would become the public enemy of all under heaven.
Yet most demonic practitioners committed crimes by killing three or four people before getting caught by the Martial Alliance and executed.
While Jang Geon’s brief thoughts flashed past, the enraged bandits screamed and gathered together.
Naturally, the bandits charging at full speed reached Jang Geon one by one. Charging at high speed, they couldn’t maintain a proper formation.
And unless surrounded by all thirty men at once, Jang Geon had no reason to lose against these trashy bandits.
Attacks lacking power due to unstable postures were deflected with his sword, and counterattacks were delivered with the scabbard.
“Fuck!”
“Die! Please!”
Driven by fear of the boss chasing behind, the bandits’ faces were heavily contorted.
Thus, the bandits in the order they approached received large sword cuts to their necks or bodies one by one and fell.
In the eyes of Gam Sangcheong watching from behind, his subordinates swarmed in groups of two or three only to fall instantly.
He roared:
“You idiots! Attack all at once! All at once!”
At his roar, the blindly charging bandits snapped to their senses, stealthily slowed their speed, and began forming a semicircle.
And before the bandits seeing that could do anything, Jang Geon leaped into the air.
“Uh-oh?”
“What the fuck!”
The spot where the leaping Jang Geon landed was atop the saddle of a riderless horse galloping blindly alongside.
Jang Geon didn’t stop there. Immediately pushing off the saddle, he leaped into the air again while bringing down his sword.
This time, a bandit with a grit-toothed face took the sword strike and fell. As his foot caught in the stirrup, he dragged along.
To the bandits, it was an astounding sight. Leaping across galloping horses like crossing stepping stones, he was taking their lives.
Thanks to that, the thoroughly terror-stricken bandits kept peeking back. Jang Geon’s eyes beneath his bamboo hat glistened coldly.
Seeing that gaze, Gam Sangcheong shouted:
“You fools! Once you cluster together, when he leaps into the air, just attack him together!”
Showing expressions of realization, the bandits raised their respective weapons and swarmed together.
Jang Geon did not move according to their expectations. Tugging the reins of the horse he mounted, he turned in a circle.
“He’s not leaping?”
One bandit looked at Jang Geon’s face approaching beside him and muttered foolishly. A split second later, his head flew off along with his comrade’s beside him.
Handling two with ease, Jang Geon urged his horse and galloped forward. Clustered closely together, the bandits rather got in each other’s way.
“These idiots!”
Jang Geon snorted at Gam Sangcheong’s continuous cursing. Gam Sangcheong was lagging behind because his horsemanship was lacking.
Advancing to the very front once again, Jang Geon glanced back. The remaining bandits, using their courage, were galloping toward him.
Flicking his sword clean, Jang Geon pulled up both legs and crouched atop the saddle once more.
“Sorry about this.”
After that, Jang Geon lightly inhaled a breath and channeled internal qi from his dantian into both feet. Then he leaped forward with all his might.
NEIGH-!
Jang Geon flew smoothly into the air, while the horse beneath him, unable to bear the strong downward pressure crushing its back, collapsed to its knees.
“Ugh, fuck!”
“Argh!”
The bandits chasing from behind tripped over that slumped horse and tumbled. A few pitched forward headfirst and broke their necks.
Having leaped into the air, Jang Geon landed lightly onto Jojo’s saddle, naturally grabbing the reins, and pulled them in a circle.
In an instant, Jang Geon and the remaining bandits ended up galloping head-on toward each other.
Immediately after, the bandits, each receiving a large sword mark somewhere on their bodies, tumbled down from their horses one after another.
“You bastard-!”
The very last Gam Sangcheong shouted with a thoroughly contorted face. Jang Geon immediately turned Jojo’s head.
Understanding his intent, Jojo circled wide around Gam Sangcheong. He chased after Jang Geon with a red-flushed face, but Jojo’s speed was far superior.
“Stop right there, you bastard!”
Jang Geon adjusted his breathing and looked back. The bandits who had seemed over thirty were now down to Gam Sangcheong alone.
Galloping like that and taking a moment to catch his breath, Jang Geon pulled Jojo’s reins and came to a stop. Then Gam Sangcheong also stopped his horse and glared at him with bloodshot eyes.
“You shitty bastard… How dare you kill my subordinates…”
Jang Geon wore a face of utter disbelief and asked back:
“Who was it that smashed the head of his own precious subordinate again?”
“You bastard! If it weren’t for you, that wouldn’t have happened! Those fellas were all my brothers!”
“Heh, cut the bullshit.”
At Jang Geon’s exclamation, Gam Sangcheong, as if enraged once more, struck his horse’s flank hard.
“Fuck! Now even a foal bastard ignores me!”
Shouting like that, Gam Sangcheong struck down on his horse’s crown as it was. A crunching sound rang out, and the horse collapsed to the ground.
Light Body Skill, which had not developed beyond military marching purposes since ancient times, could not outrun a horse except for very brief moments. For a long distance, a horse was overwhelmingly fast.
“You! Come down here! If you’re a martial artist, face me fair and square!”
Only after killing his horse did Gam Sangcheong realize that, drawing the sword bound to his saddle.
“I had no intention of leaving you alive anyway.”
Muttering like that, Jang Geon dismounted from atop Jojo. His heart, which had been churning for a brief moment, gradually calmed.